A Samhain remembrance.

We descend into winter's darkness.
Around us leaves fall, animals begin to hibernate and nature appears to sleep yet we hold fast in
the knowledge that spring will return and new life will emerge.

Candles lit for the departed.

It is fitting that the month of Samhain, November, is the time when we remember those who have gone before us,
our ancestors, our loved ones.

In Irish mythology and folklore Donn was considered to be the god to whom people went after their death.
In one text Donn tells his people:

"To me, to my house you shall come after your deaths." 

DONN by Jane Brideson showing the House of Donn at sunset.
Read about this painting HERE

He was known across the island but is remembered particularly in the West where his most famous dwelling is
Teach Duinn, the House of Donn.

Also called Bull Rock, it lies off the coast of Dursey Island, Co. Cork and is now home to a lighthouse.

Bull Rock
The rock, with its natural archway, was described as 'Donn's house behind Ireland'. 

In the folklore of Kerry and Cork the belief persisted that the spirits of the dead travelled across the sea, along a path illuminated by the setting sun, to Donn's House.

The House of Donn at sunset.

Local fishermen understood that spirits travelled west to the Land of the Dead or to mythical islands such as
Tír na hÓige, the Land of Youth, where they enjoyed the afterlife.

And so it is still, when we light a candle in the west to honour those who have left this life,

or open a west facing window to allow a spirit to depart at death
 or look to the sunset to remember...